Bake cake by day, which lets you sleep at night. Both theoretically and practically.

OOOooops!

Never start to make a cake in the last minute. Last minute cakes can be good, but for me baking is also about calming down (mindfulness?meditation?), and I cannot do it, when there is time pressure. I like to prepare, so there is no rush, and I can buy everything from sources which is acceptable for me. So it "lets" me sleep...

Chocolate and ginger together

This is a really, really good cake, make it! It is soft inside, but has a thin crust outside and the perfect balance from candied ginger and chocolate.

It is something what I call luxurious cake. This cake was available for a very few people in Europe, until the second half of the 20th century, and it still would be, if these ingredients were not available, for basically no money. But, I kindly remind everyone for the real cost of cheap ingredients. Do not make this cake every week, and be happy for it, when you can afford the expensive ingredients. And here comes the recipe...

• 250 gram soft butter, local, organic
• 250 gram powdersugar, local, organic
• 4 eggs, free range
• 50 gram candied ginger, cut into small pieces, fairtrade
• peel of half a lemon, ORGANIC, european
• 300 gram flour, local, possibly handmilled
• 2 tsp grinded ginger, fairtrade
• 100 gram dark chocolate, fairtrade
• 1 tbsp baking powder

Top

• 100 gram dark chocolate
• 50 gram candied ginger, cut as you feel like

Mix butter and sugar together with a hand mixer. Add eggs to the batter one by one, the ginger, the lemon peel. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, ginger. Add to the batter, and finally add chopped chocolate. Mix it carefully. Pour it into a greased and floured cake mold (venison). Bake in a preheated oven on 160 degrees for 50-55 minutes. Test, before you take it out. It dries out easily, do not overbake it. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water bath. Cover the cool cake with the chocolate, and decorate with the candied ginger.

 

Here you can see candied orange peels, but you can do the same with ginger 🙂

It is very important that you use organic, especially when it comes to oranges, because you use the peel of it, which is exposed to chemical treatments. Wash it well, and eat the orange, or make orange juice...then you have the peel. Remove the white part, and cut them into a shape which you prefer. Soak them in cold water for at least one day (you can also soak them for more, but then change the water. In a couple of days you can collect more orange peels). Place them into a pot with boiling water for a couple of minutes, wash them with cold water. Repeat this for 2 more times. Make a sugar syrup. Simmer the peels in the syrup until they turn transparent. When they are, remove from the syrup, let them dry on baking paper. When they are dry you can dip them into melted chocolate. Best candy- ever.

If you have 250 gram of orange peel, use 500 gram of sugar and 1 liter water for the syrup.